The Crossing October 21 2020
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CHINCHILLA<br />
REGULAR DATES<br />
Chinchilla Uniting Church<br />
31 Middle St<br />
9.30am Sunday Worship<br />
Pastor Tanya Errey<br />
Ph 4662 7318<br />
Life Church Chinchilla<br />
117 Cemetery Road<br />
10am Sunday Morning Service<br />
Zoom prayer meeting<br />
Tuesday 7pm<br />
Tony Kuster 0427 628 469<br />
Annette Kuster 0412 731 970<br />
www.lifechurchchinchilla.org<br />
Facebook Life church Chinchilla<br />
Country Hope Church<br />
Multiple service times and locations.<br />
For details or to watch online go to<br />
countryhope.church<br />
Phone 4668 9471<br />
Pastors Lee & Carly Dallmann<br />
Chinchilla Country Market<br />
3 rd Sunday of month<br />
Chinchilla Showgrounds<br />
(unless grounds are booked)<br />
7am start Ph Lindley or Marie<br />
0439 074 088<br />
CHINCHILLA MAN PUTS HIS BODY<br />
ON THE LINE FOR HIS SISTERS<br />
ZOE BELL<br />
zoe@thechinwag.com.au<br />
With zero 5km racing experience,<br />
zero 10km racing experience,<br />
zero 15km racing experience,<br />
zero half marathon experience<br />
and zero marathons to his name,<br />
one ex-Chinchilla student is<br />
preparing for the toughest race<br />
of his life but is fuelled by a heartwarming<br />
reason.<br />
Watching both his sisters suffer and<br />
wondering every day how he was fortunate<br />
not to get it, Jeremy Drabsch is taking on the<br />
gruelling 50km ultra-marathon charity race<br />
for his two sisters and to raise awareness for<br />
Epilepsy Queensland.<br />
"I've always wanted to do something for both<br />
of them, and in general for epilepsy, because<br />
I feel many people don't grasp the impact it<br />
can have on people's lives," he said.<br />
"During COVID, I started to take up running<br />
to deal with my COVID related struggles.<br />
"I sort of came out the other end a lot better<br />
off physically and mentally, and I wanted<br />
to do something to challenge myself and<br />
realised it would be the perfect lens to try<br />
and raise money for epilepsy."<br />
Jeremy can still recall the frightening moment<br />
he witnessed his sister have her first seizure.<br />
"She fell backwards and hit her head on the<br />
cement," he said.<br />
"It made this terrible sound, like a watermelon<br />
smashing, it was horrible, and to see Courtney<br />
sitting there having a fit, her body writhing<br />
and shaking uncontrollably.<br />
"<strong>The</strong>n she comes out of it… the scariest part<br />
is not knowing if they're going to be the same<br />
person or not because it just takes one head<br />
to the cement the wrong way and they're<br />
never the same again, one bad fall and that<br />
person may never be the same, or they might<br />
die.<br />
"I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy to see<br />
someone you care about go through that."<br />
Around 50 million people worldwide and<br />
200,000 Queenslanders have epilepsy, and<br />
it can have detrimental effects on patients<br />
lives.<br />
For Courtney, it meant multiple surgeries<br />
after body parts were injured from her falls<br />
and trouble in the workforce due to the<br />
unpredictable nature of the disease.<br />
EVENT CALENDAR<br />
<strong>2020</strong><br />
OCTOBER<br />
Any events happening in <strong>October</strong>?<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
15 - Chinchilla Country Market<br />
Chinchilla Showgrounds<br />
3rd Sunday of month<br />
(unless grounds are booked)<br />
7am start Phone Lindley or Marie<br />
0439 074 088<br />
28 - Official Opening of the Tara &<br />
District Art Exhibition<br />
6pm Tara Function Room<br />
19 Fry St, Tara<br />
Ph 1300 268 624<br />
29 – Tara & District Art Exhibition<br />
Tara Memorial Hall<br />
19 Fry Street, Tara (until December 2)<br />
PLEASE CHECK ANY COVID<br />
RESTRICTIONS PRIOR TO ANY<br />
OF THESE EVENTS<br />
A LESSON IN LOGIC ...<br />
A fourth-grade teacher was giving her<br />
pupils a lesson in logic.<br />
“Here is the situation,” she said. “A man is<br />
standing up in a boat in the middle of a<br />
river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in,<br />
and begins splashing and yelling for help.<br />
His wife hears the commotion, knows he<br />
can’t swim, and runs down to the bank.<br />
Why do you think she ran to the bank?”<br />
A girl raised her hand and asked, “To<br />
withdraw all his money from his savings<br />
account immediately?”<br />
"She has to have reconstructive shoulder<br />
surgery now because she's landed on it so<br />
many times and now it dislocates so easily,<br />
even when she's asleep.<br />
"However, she can't pay for the surgery<br />
because she can't hold a job for things totally<br />
out of her control.," he said.<br />
Jeremy has been training for the event for<br />
the past three weeks and despite working his<br />
way up to a 20km run, he knows that it won't<br />
be easy, and that he is in for a world of hurt.<br />
"A big part of it is that I wanted to do<br />
something to cause me suffering, pain, and<br />
agony, that I'd want to quit from because<br />
that's the point; we are lucky we can stop the<br />
race if it becomes too much, but others don't<br />
have that option," he said.<br />
"For a large part of my life there has been this<br />
guilt that both my sisters got epilepsy and I<br />
somehow managed not to get it, so I think<br />
the suffering the race will bring… it's sort of<br />
like my version of self-inflicted punishment.<br />
"I can use it to frame the challenge that I just inspire my main group of friends, if they<br />
is epilepsy because I can say, 'well this go away with a better understand of epilepsy,<br />
race is going to be very difficult, and I will then that's sort of mission accomplished to<br />
suffer through, but it is relatively short in me."<br />
comparison to the suffering my sisters have Jeremy is a quarter into his fundraising goal<br />
to deal with, or anyone with epilepsy." of $10,000 and will be running the 50km<br />
And with their love and support behind Marathon on the Gold Coast in six weeks.<br />
him, Jeremy knows he can push through If you would like to donate to his campaign<br />
and get to the other side, just like in the past and help him reach his target, please visit<br />
where the pair have helped him through Jeremy's Facebook page by searching Jeremy<br />
challenging times.<br />
W Drabsch or alternatively you can visit<br />
"<strong>The</strong>y're so strong and happy, it's very https://www.facebook.<br />
inspiring for me to keep that in perspective…<br />
to think back to what they have to deal with Picured: jeremy and his sisters Courtney and<br />
and still stay strong," he said.<br />
Portia.<br />
"It's been a huge inspiration to me."<br />
Courtney said she is appreciative of<br />
Jeremy effort towards her and her<br />
other sister.<br />
“I’m so incredibly grateful to have<br />
a brother who would go to such<br />
extremes to show his support for us<br />
and those going through the same<br />
struggle,” she said.<br />
By participating in the race, Jeremy<br />
wants to help raise awareness for the<br />
disease, make people comprehend it,<br />
and that way hopefully they will do the<br />
same in future.<br />
"<strong>The</strong> charity I chose, Epilepsy<br />
Queensland, does do research, helps<br />
to support people with epilepsy, but<br />
they also do a lot of awareness work,"<br />
he said.<br />
"That would be the main goal, even if<br />
THE CHIN WAG - WEDNESDAY <strong>October</strong> <strong>21</strong>, <strong>2020</strong> - Page 6